Friday, February 17, 2012

House Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

Sure, House Vinaigrette Dressing doesn’t sound like it’s a sexy topic for a blog post. But how many minutes do you spend reading the labels on the backs of the salad dressings in the condiment isle at the store? How many times do you audibly gasp at the number of carbs on the nutritional panel? All those ingredients I just can’t pronounce, much less identify by sight, scare the crap outta me!! *eek*

How often do you shake your head at the apparent need of food manufacturers to add

sugar to EVERYTHING? Oh and if it’s manufactured, let’s not forget those partially hydrogenated oils – and/or soy they like to hide in your food.

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House Vinaigrette Salad Dressingstores great in a pint size Mason jar!

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﻿﻿Nah, sorry, bottled salad dressing is just not for me anymore. The convenience factor isn't great enough - crummy risk reward benefit. If you want to do little things to change your life, simply start by ditching the store-bought, pre-made salad dressings and salad dressing mixes and start making your own. You will thank me. It’s the little things that add up! And those little things will tilt your world on its axis. Homemade house vinaigrette is the best! And even better? It only takes a few minutes to make.

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Chicken, Blue Cheese, Basil, Spinach Sandwich

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You have no IDEA how awesome salad tastes when you dress it with homemade, garlicy (is that a word?), vinaigrette. And don’t forget to use it liberally on sandwiches too!

OOOOOoooops? Did I say sandwiches? I mean, this is a low carb blog after all – what on earth am I doin’ using the sandwich word? Psss - remember my focaccia bread recipe?

Steak, Spinach, Horseradish Sandwich

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I’m such a tease! (The secret is the little spoon of House Vinaigrette I toss the spinach in before assembling the sammy. But more on that later...

Now, back to business. Repeat after me.

I (state your name)Will never be jacked around and held hostage bythe food hoes on condiment isle three ever again.I vow to begin making my own dressingsand swear never to idly ogle another pre-made, soy laden,transfat-filled salad dressing, crouton or baconette,as long as I live.So help me God.Amen!

Now take a deep breath! Smell that?

It’s your freedom.

And the garlic.Well, it’s mostly the garlic.

Luscious jar of liquid garlic. Er, I mean House Vinaigrette!

This luscious jar of liquid, garlic, heaven keeps FORFREAKINGEVER! If it lasts that long. It won’t, though.Last that long.

It won’t. But it could.

If you didn’t.

But you will.

Meet the playahs! First and foremost, great extra virgin olive oil! Take a bow! I found this awesome unfiltered olive oil that tastes so fruity and delicious for only $12.00 for a 1liter bottle – on sale at my local HEB! I was so excited I fell all over myself then went back to the store after trying it – buying 3 more bottles. Then I ran out of money and had to go panhandle to support my developing olive oil habit. So find an olive oil you really like and use it! It doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg.

Next up? Bragg’s Unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar by choice, but other acids work just as well. (I was out of Bragg's and subbed in Tarragon Vinegar this time!) This recipe is so flexible, it can do the splits!

Trust me, change up the acid playah in this recipe from time to time. I love Braggs ACV and have had a serious affair with it for ages, but sometimes I like to cat around with other acids!

Among my favorite acids? Well, lemon juice, lime juice, malt vinegar, champagne vinegar, tarragon vinegar, red wine vinegar would be examples of other acids I have loved before…each works well in this recipe and changes up the flavor profile splendidly. Just don’t use balsamic for the complete acid portion. It’s ok to use a tablespoon of balsamic, but it would be too much and too high carb to use balsamic for the total acid component in this dressing.

Next up, my emulsifier of choice – the rugged Country Style Dijon. Those mustard grains really liven things up and give a surprising little crunch in the dressing. Don’t get me wrong. Because there is so much volume here, the Dijon will only emulsify the house vinaigrette temporarily. You will need to shake the dressing before each use.

And what Southern kitchen would be complete without my buddies Tabasco and Lea & Perrins. They are like two sides of the same coin. Where one is, the other is sure to be closeby.

(Hey, I’m happy to report the Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce labeled “Original” and “Natural” no longer has high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) in the ingredient list and is completely devoid of soy! Wooot! Thank you L & P!)

Add the crushed garlic, salt and pepper. Add a splash (3-4 tablespoons of filtered water) and Bob’s your uncle. Congrats! You now have a bonifide house vinaigrette dressing.

Now shake, rattle and roll! You have a house vinaigrette staring at you to rival the finest steakhouse vinaigrette. You will wonder why you ever wasted your money or time looking at Wishbone. Oh and you can get fancy with this basic vinaigrette. Add a tablespoon of fresh herbs or a couple of tablespoons of whole milk yogurt for a creamy garlic dressing! I tend to add my herbs to each batch of salad. That way the dressing continues to have a longer fridge life. I have been known, however, to add dried herbs to it without a loss of fridge life.

DirectionsPeel and press garlic into glass jar. Add remaining ingredients. Seal glass jar and shake to combine. Shake well before each serving.

Use dressing to flavor salads, sandwiches, wraps and as a base for marinades!

Dressing will keep up to 2 weeks in the ice box.

Nutritional Information

Nutrition Label – Full Recipe

Nutrition Label – Single Serving

SusieT Notes:

I don’t have enough forks in the world to rate this recipe! It is seriously more than four forks, but since I’m limited to four – four it is. This is one of my stand by recipes. In the event of a nuclear holocaust – there would be a bottle of this dressing in my fridge. That’s how important this vinaigrette dressing is in our life.

Also (Nerd Alert!) – This house vinaigrette is a great source of Vitamin E. Just two tablespoons give you about 11% of your daily requirement for Vitamin E. Because I used unfiltered extra virgin olive oil, I also got a slew of antioxidant and polyphenols from the olives! Most supermarket salad dressings can’t make that claim I bet!?

Now quite dilly dallying and go make it already! Then run back here and drool over your love for this killer house vinaigrette!

2 comments:

Let me know how you like it! I make my vinaigrettes with a 1:1 ratio of oil to acid these days. The reason I make them so tart is because it saves some calories. Plus, I like tart. If you want a less aggressive tartness, just adjust your ratio to have more oil to vinegar!